The Smile That Blinds
by Zino
Summary: Big brown eyes look at him eagerly and to be honest – that's all he needs. Comashipping, Diodeshipping, Coldcoffeeshipping, Ash/Paul, Barry/Paul, Clemont/Ash, school!AU.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Pokemon or any of the characters.  
 **A/N:** Hahaa so... I got inspired by my own fanart? Also I feel like I don't know how to make my writing flow nicely anymore. Anyway, a small school AU that hopefully won't get out of my hands too much. Shorter chapters that I'm used to write as well but hopefully I can update more often then. Un-beta'ed for now so sorry for all the grammar mistakes!

* * *

 **CHAPTER 1**

Reggie can tell his little brother is more than just nervous. Paul, despite of his young age, isn't the one to show too many emotions on his face but right now the young boy is visibly shaken. Reggie wonders if he was quite that scared when he started school few years earlier. _Probably not_ , he muses to himself. Back then they had still lived in their old hometown and Reggie had started his school journey with all his friends since the diaper era. But with the new city and new people no wonder Paul took his elementary school debut harder than his big brother. Not that Paul had left too many friends behind. Again, he was not like Reggie. While the older boy was social and spent lot of time with his friends his seven years old little brother mostly played with himself. Paul had been like that since he was a small baby. Reggie thinks it's probably his fault. He had been, and still was, the proud big brother type. Played with Paul a lot (maybe too much) and thus accidentally made sure Paul didn't even feel the need to make other friends because quoting his own words "I don't need anyone else than you, big bro!"

It was all going to end today though. They were in different schools now. Paul starting the first grade and Reggie entering the junior high couple of blocks away. So his cute little brother didn't have any other chances but to make new friends. Reggie had explained to him that making new friends was the best thing in the world. Only too bad Paul's expression had been anything but convinced. _Maybe he just need to see it with his own eyes,_ Reggie comforts himself. Paul may have been a little bit too quiet and serious for a seven year old kid, but there was nothing wrong with him. He'd make friends easily. No matter how hard Paul was trying to disagree with squeezing Reggie's hand with more strength than probably was necessary.

"You know, it's going to be fine", Reggie tries to calm his little brother. To be honest, he isn't even supposed to be the one to take his little brother to the school on his first day but their parents were unfortunately busy today so the task had fallen into Reggie's lap. Not that he minds as he loves Paul. He's just not sure if he can manage to say right and reassuring things. Their mom would definitely be a better choice to try to calm Paul's nerves.

"...How can you know, big bro?" Paul frowns at him like he doesn't believe Reggie at all. They are almost at the school gates and Reggie is running out of time. Paul needs to realize first grade is going to be best time of his life and he needs to realize it in about two minutes.

"Because you're my brother and if I'm going to be fine, so are you!" Reggie smiles at his brother. Paul looks at him, still looking little unsure, "but you're cool, big bro! I'm not cool at all..."

"Bzzt! Wrong! You're the coolest guy on the planet! Remember, even the bed monster is afraid of you, because you're so cool!" Reggie now holds both of Paul's little hands and hopes they are going to stop shaking soon.

"...I thought you said it was afraid of me because I brush my teeth every night?" Paul says in a small voice like's he's afraid someone else will hear their conversation.

"That's because it's cool to brush your teeth", Reggie is now at Paul's level and looks into his little brother's dark (almost black) eyes, "don't you want to have lots of cool friends too? Together you could discuss the ways to defeat bed monsters once and for all!"

Paul's eyes widen and Reggie congrats himself for the excellent bait. Rest is easy. Paul stops shaking and actually smiles and it's a smile Reggie loves and wishes Paul would show more. When he finally leaves Paul to his new teacher (a very nice looking young man who introduces himself as Roark) his little brother doesn't cling to him like Reggie was afraid he would but waves at him instead, not looking scared anymore. Reggie waves back at him and only starts running when Paul can't see him anymore. After all, Reggie needs to be cool too and not be late on his first day.

* * *

Paul watches his big brother disappearing the same time with his newly found courage. He doesn't feel cool at all anymore. Paul wishes he could just skip the first six grades and go to that other school with his big bro. He stares at his shoes and hopes day would be over already. He doesn't know anyone here. They only moved here this summer and so far he has spent time with either Reggie or just by himself. Paul has seen couple of young kids playing football on their home street but they never even made eye contact with Paul so he never bothered with them either. Besides, Reggie was way more fun to play with than anyone else anyway. It was even better now that all Reggie's old friends weren't around anymore. He had more time to play with his only little brother.

It wasn't going to last forever though. Knowing Reggie, Paul is sure his big bro would easily make new friends in a heartbeat. It is different to him. He isn't interested playing tag or just making a general mess of himself like all the other boys do. Paul likes quiet games, strategic plays where you could plan more and act less. Needless to say, back in their hometown he hadn't been the top choice for playing outside with. Paul isn't expecting anything to change here either. And it's not like he _really_ needs to have someone new to discuss bed monster defeating strategies with – he already had his big bro.

Big bro who would most likely to be disappointed if Paul came back home without making even a single new friend. Paul clenches his little fists – alright then, he would give it a shot. Then nobody would be able to blame him for not at least trying. He glances his fellow first graders who are already chatting with each other and feels something knot in his stomach. Yes, he would try... when they were safely seated in the classroom.

"Okay, everyone! It's time to go to see your new classroom. We'll take your names there. Please leave your shoes next to the door when you go inside", the guy with red hair and glasses claps his hands and motions everyone to follow him. He had introduced himself to Reggie earlier, but Paul had already forgotten the guy's name. Well if he was going to be their teacher Paul assumes he would tell them his name again in the classroom.

Paul follows the other kids, not quite being the last in the line, trying to figure out who would make a good new friend. Minus the girls of course, because Paul doesn't want to befriend girls. Like ever. Girls sucks and only want to play with dolls and such. Paul hates girls. His big brother was friends with some girls back in their old hometown and Paul didn't like those girls either. Giggling loudly and making his brother laugh too much – such a bother.

So girls are out of the question but there are still bunch of guys in his class and they will do nicely.

Only thing left to do was to summon some courage to speak to them. Easy job, as easy as defeating the bed monster! Right?

 _Maybe I should brush my teeth again? If it's makes me cooler..._ Paul thinks and then frowns. He left his toothbrush at home and it's too late to get it anymore as the first class is already starting. The teacher, still not introducing himself, says they can sit wherever they like and that they will be changing the seats in every three weeks. The classroom is suddenly filled with running and yelling. Boys trying to catch the seat from the back and girls trying to sit as far away from the loud boys as possible. In the end Paul manages to take a seat somewhere in the middle. There is a girl in front of him, and to his right, but some boy sits behind him so maybe Paul can befriend him. To his displeasure, the seat to his left is empty. Paul would have liked if there was another boy there. He would have more options when making friends but he guesses the guy behind will have to do.

"Okay, let's calm down everyone", their teacher tells them and suddenly silence falls above the classroom. Paul can almost hear the visible shaking of their small hands. It's starting now – his school life. For real.

"Let's start with the introductions, shall we?", teacher continues, "My name is Roark and I'm going to be your teacher this year. I hope we're going to get along like real friends. Now let's just check if everyone's really here. When I call your name, please stand up and introduce yourself to the class and tell something about yourself as well. Alright?"

Paul feels himself tensing. Telling something about himself? What would he tell? He doesn't play any sports, and he doesn't have any hobbies worth of telling. Basically he just likes to watch cartoons and play with his brother. He looks at the others in panic. They all seem so determined, like they have all already decided what they are going to tell. Paul's hands sweat a little. He decides he hates school already.

Roark calls the first name and the girl from the front seats stands up repeating her name and telling them she has two kittens she loves. Then she sits again and their teacher calls another name. Paul's anxiety grows – he still hasn't figured out what to say.

After they have gone through five more people Paul can feel his heart beating faster and faster. Any minute now, any minute would Roark call his name and then he would look stupid for not figuring out anything to say. Every passing name feels like a tsunami coming closer and closer waiting to destroy everything. Paul wonders if it's too late to fake sick and run back home. When Roark opens his mouth again Paul closes his eyes, waiting to hear his name. He doesn't hear it. Instead he, with everyone else, hear a loud yelling from the hallway. Roark never gets to say the next name when the classroom's door swings wide open and behind it there is boy with black hair, dressed in pajamas trying to catch his breath.

"I'm... sorry... I'm... lateeh..." The boy wheezes like he had just run a marathon. Roark, with the rest of class just stares at him. Paul does too. Then Roark finally snaps out of whatever he was in, and asks, "What's your name?"

"Ash... Ketchum", the boy answers still having trouble breathing normally. Then he takes the last big inhale and seems to be back to normal, beaming at the teacher, "this is the right classroom, right? I-I'm starting the first grade today! I was so nervous last night I barely slept and of course I woke up late and then-" the boy, Ash, continues his rambling making Paul feel a little more at ease. Even if he ends up telling the class something really lame about himself, at least he wasn't late on his first day.

 _And wearing pajamas on the top of that!_ Paul chuckles real silent, making sure no one can hear him.

"You are indeed at the right place, Ash", Roark smiles at the boy, "we were just making sure everyone was here and telling some details about us."

"Oh okay", Ash still smiles, looking less and less tired every passing second, "then I'm Ash, and I... hmm... oh I know, I love croquettes! Nice to meet you all! Can't wait to be your friend!"

"Why are you wearing pajamas?!" Someone yells from the back the thought everyone was probably thinking. Ash looks confused at first and then he actually glances down to see what he is wearing. His eyes widen and face grows red from the embarrassment before he let's out a loud 'oops'. Everyone starts laughing and if it was Paul in Ash's place he would probably dig a hole deep enough to reach the other side of the earth and never come out again. Ash doesn't seem to mind though when he joins the other laughing kids. Even Roark is having hard time trying not to smile too widely. When the laughter dies downs he tells Ash if he doesn't mind attending wearing his pajamas he's free to take any seat that's still left.

Paul feels his pulse quicken for unknown reason when Ash walks towards him and sits down to the empty seat on his left. Up-close Paul can see bread crumbles on the corners of Ash's mouth. He probably ate his breakfast while running to school. Paul wishes he could reach out and wipe the food off Ash's face. Only when Ash turns his head and smiles directly at Paul the boy realizes he's been staring too long and quickly turns his head away, not returning the smile.

When his time to introduce himself finally comes, Paul tell the class he likes orange juice (if Ash was okay using food related stuff, Paul figures he is too). He doesn't have time to befriend the guy behind him before it's already their first recess and everyone runs out of the class in hurry. Paul is slow on purpose, taking forever putting his shoes back on. He still doesn't know anyone here, and he isn't quite bold enough just include himself to whatever his classmates are playing. When he steps outside he sees most of his male classmates playing football and probably already being friends with each other. Paul takes a spot behind a large tree. It's only the first recess, it's not like he's already an outsider. He still has time to make friends before the school ends and he meets up with his big brother again. Even if he has to play messy football with everyone else, he will make a friend.

He tells this to himself when it's already their third and final recess for the day. So far Paul has had zero luck on the friendship department. It's like he thought before - this is a small town, most of the kids already knew each other before and Paul is the unlucky new kid with no history with everyone else. He's sitting alone under the same tree again. Bigger kids like to stand in circles just talking when the smaller ones are either playing tag, or football or using the swing and the slides. Paul opens the book that's supposed to teach them how to read. He already knows how to, thanks to his big brother. So he just flips past the alphabetic letters and stops to read the longer paragraphs and stories the books has to offer. Last recess he was almost ready to join his football playing classmates but then he had seen they already had even teams. Paul would be just extra and a bother.

 _Tomorrow,_ Paul thinks desperately, _I can make friends tomorrow. It doesn't have to be today. Tomorrow is good too. Or this week. Somewhere along this week._ He's deep in his thoughts and doesn't notice someone sitting next to him.

"You can read already!? Cool!"

Startled by the sudden voice beside him (calling him cool!), Paul slams the book shut in panic. Then he looks at the source of the cheerful voice. It's Ash.

"No, don't close it! You can read stuff for me! I still don't know how to read at all", Ash smiles at him and Paul thinks this boy is probably incapable of not smiling all the time. He's still in a small state of panic and disarray so somehow saying something out loud feels like an impossible task. He opens up the book again instead. Shuffling through the pages, trying to look like he's searching for something to read. He can feel Ash still looking at him smiling. Paul opens his mouth, not being sure what is going to come out of there. Ash beats him to it,

"Hey, read this page! It has a cute mouse in it! Do you see, that yellow one? I wanna know what it says!" Ash leans closer to the book (and to Paul), pointing the exact page he wants to be read out loud. Paul closes his mouth and then opens it again, hesitating for a moment before reading the first sentence.

When he finishes the page, he shuts the book again. Paul thinks he can probably say it now.

"I-I'm Paul", he says and right after realizes how stupid he sounds, introducing himself even when they already did that in class. But maybe it's okay, just in case Ash has already forgotten.

"I'm Ash", Ash beams at him and Paul has to look away because that smile is seriously too bright.

"Why aren't you playing football?" Paul asks before he can stop himself. Ash points his outfit, "mom wouldn't like if I got my best pajama all dirty."

"I can't believe you'd come to school wearing that!" Paul hears himself saying and hopes Ash doesn't think he's trying to pick up a fight.

"I can't either! I guess I really was in a rush..." Ash laughs sounding somewhat embarrassed. It almost makes Paul smile too. The conversation stops there, Paul trying to figure out what to say next. He turns to face Ash again, maybe only to ask if there's anything else he wants to be read from the book.

Big brown eyes look at him eagerly and to be honest – that's all he needs,

"y-you wanna be my friend?"

Ash is stunned maybe for a second before a big goofy grin is all Paul sees.

"Sure!"


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** I said I'd update this more often but it's been months since the first chapter OTL. Usually kid stuff is easy for me to write so I don't know why I struggled with this so much... And I'm sorry if they feel ooc but I just can't imagine kid!Paul being the same way as he was in the anime. Plus this is au and (so far) he has no aniki angst issues to deal with. As usual I don't have a beta so sorry for typos and grammar errors!

* * *

 **CHAPTER 2**

"Big bro", Paul yells and runs towards the familiar figure that had just entered the school yard. Reggie spreads his arms and takes the full force Paul tackle/hug like it's not a big deal at all.

"Why, isn't it my favorite little brother! How did the first day of school go?" He asks when Paul has had enough of hugging and finally releases him. To Reggie's surprise his brother is beaming, "it was awesome!"

On their way to home together, Reggie hears all about Paul making a new friend. His little brother also tells him he didn't get to plan any monster defeating strategies with Ash yet, but that was because school was already over before they managed to get to that. Reggie tells Paul 'told you so' which makes Paul blush a bit, like it always does when Reggie is right even when Paul was doubting him earlier. Then he ends up telling Paul about his school day, which is quite an exciting story involving just barely making it to the class before the teacher. Paul laughs and for the first time when Reggie tells him he also made new friends, he doesn't want to sulk.

Reggie meets Paul's new friend for real a week later when he comes to pick up his brother from the school again. At first he doesn't see Paul anywhere near the supposed waiting place and almost gets worried before spotting the familiar shade of purple under a big tree. He's about to yell Paul to come to him before realizing his brother is not alone – there's a kid with a messy black hair with him. Reggie concludes that must be Ash since Paul hasn't mentioned any of his other classmates by the name.

"Why would be you pick all the basic soldiers on purpose? You can't win with those!" Reggie hears Paul asking his new friend. Ash only shrugs,

"I like these soldiers. Besides if you trust your soldiers, I'm sure you can win with them!"

"They are toy soldiers! Your trust will do nothing, it's just easier to pick the strong guys from the beginning. Like these commander guys", Paul tries to argue and make Ash see the errors in his reasoning. Ash won't buy it and sticks with his bunch of basic gray soldiers. Paul looks like he's about to say something more, when he spots Reggie.

"Big bro!"

Reggie waves at him and at Ash too. Paul's new friend instantly waves back at him. He's smiling too, despite of looking a little confused about the newcomer. The two boys are playing with the toy soldiers Reggie remembers Paul taking to school this morning. Paul has commanders on his side but Ash seems to prefer normal soldiers that aren't as flashy as Paul's bunch. This is the first time Reggie sees Paul sharing his soldiers with someone else than his big brother, and it makes Reggie glad. Maybe things will change for the best here.

"Sorry, I didn't know you had company. Should I have come pick you up later?" Reggie greets his little brother who shakes his head rapidly, "Nuh uh, Ash was just waiting with me!"

"Really?" Reggie smiles at Ash, "that was nice of you. Thanks."

Ash beams at him again and Reggie remembers Paul mentioning that smile one or two times before at home. Now he gets what his little brother meant when he said he hasn't seen a smile like that before.

"It wasn't a big deal! I wanted to play some more before going home, because it's boring there!" Ash says and then looks at Paul before continuing, "besides, Paul's cool so it's alright."

Paul flushes at the words. He still can't quite cope with someone else than Reggie calling him cool, and Ash has been doing that a lot lately. Soon Paul is going to think he really is cool! But of course, not as cool as Ash. Ash is the coolest! Well... right after Reggie. For a few days now Paul has tried to tell Ash how cool he is too but for some reason the words just won't come out when he wants them to. So his new friend still has no idea about his coolness levels.

Paul and Ash collect all the soldiers from the ground and Reggie properly introduces himself and tells Ash he is more than welcome to play at their house after school. Ash promises to ask his mom about it.

"Bye, Paul! By, Reggie!" He then waves at them and sprints towards his house. Reggie and Paul exchange looks. "He has a lot of energy, doesn't he?" Reggie jokes but Paul nods being completely serious, "yes, he has."

"Well maybe some of that energy will rub on you. Make you clean your room faster", Reggie smirks and Paul makes a face at him, "it's you who's always lazy when it's cleaning day, big bro!"

* * *

"Hey, Ash, come play with us! We need one more!" Some kids from their class yell at Ash, who's sitting with Paul under the tree. Recess has just started and they were about to play with their toy soldiers once again before the other kids had interrupted them. Ash opens his mouth, about to say something and somehow Paul just knows he's gonna reject the offer so he speaks before:

"It's okay, you can go."

Ash looks at him as if trying to decide whether Paul really means it or not, "you sure? You wanna come too?"

"Yes and no. I don't really like football. My clothes will just get messy and I hate feeling sweaty", Paul answers him. He knows he can't monopolize Ash. After all, he's really popular among their classmates. And Paul? Not so much. He's not like Ash. He doesn't run around that super smile on his face, making new friends easily. After befriending Ash on the first day of school Paul felt like he was satisfied with that for now. And when he finally realized he probably should have more than just one friend, all the other kids already had their groups of friends and it was too late. Besides, he liked to study and it wasn't a popular hobby among his new classmates. They had mistook him as a serious student for some reason and not even bothered to ask him to play with them anymore.

 _Not that I mind,_ Paul thinks as he watches Ash joining their classmates. Ash is his friend and it's enough. Why would he need to play with anyone else? They won't understand him like Ash does anyway. Paul sees Ash scoring a goal and his teammates forming a huge celebration pile, leaving Ash under all of them. _Maybe I should have joined after all,_ he regrets his decision for a second. It does look pretty fun. Hugging Ash. Not so much the part where everyone is crushing the air out of you. It also looks like their clothes are probably never going to be clean again. Paul fears what Ash's mom is going to say when he sees his son's muddy clothes. Actually, Paul wonders what's Ash's mom even like. They haven't really talked about their families yet, well except about Reggie and that was only because Ash already met him. It's not like he really has anything interesting to say about his parents anyway. They work a lot and are rarely home before the nighttime. That wouldn't really make an interesting story at all.

Spending the recess alone feels a lot like his life in their old hometown before moving here. Always playing alone when Reggie was away and sometimes even when he was around. Paul loves his big bro but sometimes he feels like maybe Reggie doesn't actually want to spend his every waking hour playing kids' games with his little brother. Paul still hasn't asked whether this was true or not. But now that he had Ash... as a friend, spending time alone felt awfully lonely. A lot more lonely that it had been before. Like you had tasted one spoonful of delicious cake and then it had been taken away. Paul watches the boys playing football and hopes they don't want Ash to join them at the next recess too.

It's only been three weeks since school started and he had met Ash but it really felt like Paul had known him a lot longer. Maybe it was because they were always playing together. Maybe it should have rang some warning bells in Paul's mind but he's only seven years old and doesn't think there's anything wrong with wanting to play with only one person.

Ash waves at him from the field and Paul nods at him then turning his attention back to his book. He tries to concentrate on the words (something about a missing teddy bear) but he keeps trying to steal glances at Ash. The boy's dirty, Paul can clearly see it even from the distance. He also knows Ash won't care. He once fell into a muddy puddle and didn't even bother to clean his face so in the end it was Paul who had forced him to go to bathroom and wiped his face clean with a towel. His big brother had taught him to stay clean and Paul was going to teach some of that to Ash too. In one way or another.

A couple minutes before the bell calls them back to the classroom, Ash comes running back to Paul. "Did you see me score? Twice!" He beams. Paul feels like he should roll his eyes so he does so.

"Don't get all cocky now", he says but there's nothing to fear, not really. Paul may have not known Ash for too long but the last thing the other boy is going to do is turn cocky. Ash seems to know it too since he just shows his tongue at Paul.

"You should come play with us the next time. Football is fun!"

Paul looks at Ash's dirty clothes and sweaty face before turning his attention back to the book again, "no thanks, it's enough that you smell like a sweaty old man."

"I don't smell like that", Ash protests but sniffs his armpits anyway, "or do I?" He looks at Paul with looking confused. Paul can't leave him hanging, so he answers,

"You don't. I was just kidding."

"Good."

"Actually I lied, you do smell a bit. Please don't sit so close to me at the next class, okay?"

"Paul!"

* * *

The first time Paul has a sleepover at Ash's house it's more exciting and less frightening than the first time he had met Ash's mother. Delia was... something else. Paul's not quite used to the mothers with that much energy. She had hugged Paul the second he had stepped inside the house and politely greeted Ash's mom. With a huge smile Delia had welcomed Paul to their home and thanked him for being Ash's friend. Paul hadn't known how to respond at all. So he had just kinda stood there nodding his head and hoping he wouldn't look as awkward as he felt. At least now Paul knew where Ash had gotten his cheerful attitude from.

"Are you sure you wanna sleep on the floor? I don't mind sharing my bed..." Ash asks him about the tenth time already. Paul doesn't even bother to reply anymore, he just gives Ash a stern look.

"Fine, floor is good. I get it", Ash pouts a bit. But then his smile is back and he suggests they go play outside because last summer he had built this really awesome tree house with his mom. Paul gets excited too- he loves tree houses. Even though his parents had forbid him for building them, he had made one with Reggie anyway, in secret.

"Yeah, let's go!" He and Ash run out of the house and Ash didn't lie, the tree house is awesome. They spend the whole day there playing pirates and the tree house plays the part of the ship. They are just about to discover a huge treasure when Delia calls them to have dinner. Neither of them had even realized it was so late already.

Delia's cooking is delicious and even Paul, who doesn't normally take seconds, takes more food. Ash gobbles down his dinner in minutes and then takes seconds. Delia just smiles like he's used to his son being a glutton. It takes Paul a while to get what's missing from the picture but he saves the question for later when Delia's not there. Big bro has taught him some questions are more delicate than others. So only after they are done with the dinner and are resting inside the tree house again, Paul asks the question.

"Where's your dad?"

For a moment Ash doesn't answer and Paul fears he messed up but then the other boy turns around, with a reassuring smile.

"I don't know. I've never seen him. Mom says he left to chase his dream, but that's all I know."

Paul feels bad. He shouldn't have asked. He can't imagine what it's like to live without the other parent. He has both, mom and dad. Despite them always working late and rarely _really_ spending time with Paul he still has both of them. And Reggie. Ash doesn't even have that since he's the only child.

"And yet you still smile so much and are great at making friends..." Paul mumbles to himself. Ash doesn't hear what he says because he's already talking about the great treasure they are supposed to find soon. Paul wants to play too but he feels somewhat serious, like he has to say something to Ash. So he grabs the black haired kid by the arm. Ash stops talking and looks at Paul surprised.

"Paul?"

"I... I'll always be your friend so... so you don't have to worry about anything!"

Immediately after letting the words out of his mouth Paul feels stupid. He not a baby anymore, he's seven years old already! What kind of seven year old says embarrassing stuff like that! He realizes he's still holding Ash by his arm and quickly lets go. Ash is probably never going to call him cool after this!

"I mean..." Paul opens his mouth, trying to think how to fix the situation. Ash is still staring at him. Most likely regretting befriending such an embarrassing kid. Paul's gaze drops to the floor. Ash probably doesn't want Paul to stay over anymore either, because Paul is so-

"Thanks!"

 _Huh?_ Paul looks up again, confused. Ash is smiling and it only makes Paul feel even more confused. Did he hear correctly? Was Ash... thanking him? Paul opens his mouth again, ready to ask something but Ash beats him to it.

"I'll always be your friend too!"

There it comes, Paul can feel it. He can feel his face heating up. It's that smile again – so bright that it makes Paul wanna close his eyes. Those brown eyes looking straight at him making Paul want to look anywhere else but at them. But he can't. So he stares at Ash, red-faced and everything. Paul feels like they have been looking at each other for the past half an hour but it's probably been only like five seconds. Then he blurts it out,

"Thank you."

Afterward neither of them say anything about the matter anymore. They continue playing pirates, find the treasure, escape from their sinking ship and finally return to the real house when Delia yells it's time for bed. After brushing their teeth they walk towards Ash's room. There's a mattress on the floor ready for Paul. Paul looks at it and then looks at Ash who is smiling again, only gentler this time. Without saying a word he climbs to Ash's bed after the other boy. They turn off the lights, pull the blanket over them and fall asleep. Paul can't remember why he wanted to sleep on the floor so badly anyway.


End file.
